Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

God's grace, mercy and peace be yours from God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and Spirit, help me to keep my train of thought.

I think that's a prayer that gets heard and gets answered.

I want to show you something that still is - I don't need this visual to still have it in my mind.

And it's this: this happens to be just a small section of the 9th ward, in New Orleans.

You, maybe have heard of Hurricane Katrina, and I had the opportunity with some other Lutheran Christians to do some relief work two times down in New Orleans, some years ago.

And the first trip involved a group from Saint Paul, Amherst and Saint Paul Stevens Point, and we got together, got in the bus, went down to New Orleans, and part of the itinerary has us going to the 9th Ward.

Now, we went down to muck out houses.

Wow, if you can envision your own home, and coming back to it and realizing that water had come, and at its highest level, it was in your attic.

And then it all, you know, diminished and disappeared and left behind what it did.

And we would go down to help families to muck out their homes and try to save or to find, you know, precious kind of possessions.

Well, in the 9th ward, when that levi gave way - which was just to the west, the west perimeter of the 9th ward, this is what was left.

There's nothing to muck, and I'm not kidding.

You see, this is a concrete threshold, the stairs, and it was just one like this after another in the neighborhood.

So when that water, the force and the power of that water breaking through the levee, it just it hauled off everything - the houses and all its contents and couldn't be found anywhere.

Wherever it all washed down to.

I mean we were just, you know, our mouths were agape.

Mine was, I know, when I first set sight to this.

And the other thing I'll always remember, is how a person in our group, actually, had mentioned to me.

You know, Pastor Chris, why God allowed Hurricane Katrina to come upon these people.

It was His way of getting after all the people of New Orleans for Bourbon Street.

And I was waiting for a smile, and there wasn't one.

It was a serious remark.

And I thought, you know what, maybe that's not so uncommon for that to be the way that people think.

When things happen to people, when it happens to other people: well, what did they do to deserve that?

I mean, God must have known something, and that's why it came upon them.

And then, you know, you heard Brandon sharing from today's Gospel text for the third Sunday in Lent, where it's mentioned to Jesus about the Galileans whose whose blood was spilled by a terrorist act on Pontius Pilate's part.

And by the way, Jesus, did you see yesterday's headline where it said a Saloam tower falls.

Eighteen dead.

Well, what did they do, Jesus, to deserve that?

They must have done something, because you're Master of the Universe.

What did they do to deserve that?

Right?

Well, what does Jesus say as we follow Him?

And as we follow, we listen.

This is what He says, read it with me.

"Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?"

So, the people who died at the hands of Hurricane Katrina, would we say, well, they must have been more guilty than all the people of Louisiana.

Or how about the 2,966 who died 9/11 in the World Trade Center?

Well, Lord, were they more guilty than all the citizens of New York City in the state of New York?

Were they worse sinners than... how would you feel in a blank?

I've shared with you every now and then about the experiences I have as a chaplain.

You don't think I haven't heard somebody from their bed say why is God punishing me?

Yeah, I just got a diagnosis of cancer.

Why?

I remember the gentleman who said, "Chaplin, I know this is because of of my youth, my younger days.

God has finally caught up with me."

What would you say to somebody thinking along those lines?

You know what is worse?

Is when our answer would be yes.

Yes.

They were - the Galileans, the people in the World Trade Center, the people in New Orleans - yes, they were worse sinners than the others.

That would be a far worse response.

But yet, you know, we've got our reasons, perhaps, or evidence, maybe as to why we would think somebody is more deserving in light of decisions they've made or things they've done or not done or whatever.

And then Jesus, knowing the way we think about such things, He comes right back and He says this, read it with me.

"I tell you unless you repent, you too will perish."

Do you see what Jesus did?

This is why He's the master teacher, and He teaches with authority.

Because while people are gathering around Him - and they want answers.

I want answers, you want some answers as to why things happened.

And they're asking Him about others, and Jesus takes the focus and He puts it where?

On you and me.

You're wondering about everybody.

What did they do to deserve this or to have this happen.

And Jesus says hold on, here.

Hold on.

Let's bring this back.

I'm going to bring this back to you, to who you are, to who I am.

So if you've ever - you wouldn't be the only one, cuz there's a book that's been written.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?"

If you've ever wondered that, well, actually, there's an answer here as far as I understand it.

And it's in Romans chapter 8, where God, His Spirit working through Paul says this, let's read it.

"For the creation was subjected to futility, to bondage and decay, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth, and not only the creation, but we ourselves."

Did you see any reference there to oh, this just pertains to World Trade Center workers.

Or people who live in New Orleans or Galileans or people who were around the Siloam Tower?

No, it's all inclusive.

It's all of humanity.

It's all of mankind.

Womankind.

All people in this.

I mean, there's this is meaninglessness.

Read the book of Ecclesiastes in Solomon.

The wisest man in the planet, we're told, came to realize it's all futility.

It's all meaningless, these things that happen.

Boy, where do we get by playing the blame game?

Not as far as we'd like.

But boy, it sells tabloids, doesn't it?

And it makes gossip juicier.

Well, this is why this happened, right?

We get nowhere trying to figure out, okay, what was the specific sin that causes the specific disaster?

If they'd only closed down Bourbon Street, maybe God would have spared the people of New Orleans.

But we do get somewhere when we keep our track following and listening.

Not just following, but listening to what Jesus has to say.

And His answer is don't look at everyone else.

Take a good, honest look at yourself.

How is it for you when you stand - and you're honest about it - before the mirror, especially with regards to repentance.

Repent is simply one of those theological words that that means to turn.

To turn.

You know, here, my direction has been, what have they done to deserve this?

And to turn from that, and to turn to God with my own brokenness, with my guilt, with my failings, my need for forgiveness, and believe that He has not given me or assigned to me terrorism or assigned tragedies or illness or even death.

But rather Christ.